Feeds:
Posts
Comments

10 Signs That You May Be Maturing

January 27, 2016 by bjcorbin

·       You choose to pick your battles, as opposed to reacting to every little situation.

·       You become less concerned with what is popular, and more concerned about what is right.

·       You recognize that boundaries are meant for protection, and not as a barrier to the good stuff.

·       You become less concerned with quantity, and more concerned with quality.

·       You spend more time focusing on the big picture, and less time worrying about minor issues.

·       You become less concerned with your own well-being, and more concerned with the welfare of others.

·       You stop feeling the need to push your way to the front of every line.

·       You become less impressed by people’s accomplishments, and place a greater value on their character.

·       You find yourself being more driven by what needs to be done than by how you feel about it.

·       You spend more time being grateful for what you have than you spend worrying about what you don’t.

Posted in Commentaries, Lists, Opinions | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Thought for the Day – Facing Adversity

January 26, 2016 by bjcorbin

Back in October, my oldest son broke his arm while playing high school football; and what I thought would be a relatively quick run to the emergency room turned into days of hospitalization and multiple surgeries.  Late on that first evening, while under the influence of some pretty strong pain medication, he said, “I wish this had never happened”.  And as he drifted off to sleep, I thought about how often life presents us with situations that we wish had never happened.  Sickness, injury, car trouble, divorce, unexpected bills, loss of a loved one, bad grades, getting laid off, missing the game winning shot, identity theft, unplanned pregnancy, a traffic ticket, betrayal, addiction…  It seems that the fabric of our days has many such threads woven into it. 

 

In light of that fact, I began to wonder how well we’ve prepared our kids to face that kind of adversity.  Unwittingly, and in the name of protecting them, we can run out in front of our kids, removing every obstacle from their path, and at times, even going back to clean up their messes behind them.  We rationalize that we’re trying to give them every advantage, and get them off to a good start.  But too often they emerge from childhood totally unprepared to cope with the inherent struggles of adult life.  While the instinct to protect our children, and to do for them, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it must be balanced with the need to prepare them to go out and make a life of their own.  Too many people of my generation are raising their grandkids, and/or paying their adult children’s bills; and often times that is simply the fruit of seeds that we unintentionally planted along the way.

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Parenting / Family, Social / Political, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Thought for the Day – Trust & Forgiveness

January 24, 2016 by bjcorbin

There is a rather significant difference between forgiveness and trust.  Forgiveness is simply a matter of releasing a transgressor from their debt.  But when trust has been violated and thereby lost, it takes substantially more to rebuild a relationship.  Transgressors are fond of thinking that if they’ve truly been forgiven, everything will return to the way it was, but that is not true.  While God does command us to forgive, He does not require us to place our trust in those who have proven to be unworthy of it.

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Thought for the Day – The Stubborn Nature of Time

January 23, 2016 by bjcorbin

Time has no conscience.  It is indifferent to our lack of preparation, our confusion, our fear, and our pain.  It will not stop for us when we stumble, and it will not slow for us when we fall behind.  It is unrelenting, unforgiving and unrepentant.

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Music of David Bowie and The Eagles

January 20, 2016 by bjcorbin

Given the requisite age of rock stars from the late 1960s, and early 1970s, it’s not really surprising that many of these pop culture icons are passing away.  This last week has seen two significant figures from the world of rock and roll step into the annals of music history.  First it was David Bowie, whose eclectic collection of musical styles, and personas, made him impossible to categorize.  If you’ve never listened to his music, here are ten cuts worth seeking out:

  1. Space Oddity (from the 1969 album, “Space Oddity”)
  2. Changes (from the 1971 album, “Hunky Dory”)
  3. Ziggy Stardust (from the 1972 album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars”)
  4. Suffragette City (from the 1972 album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars”)
  5. Rebel, Rebel (from the 1974 album, “Diamond Dogs”)
  6. Fame (from the 1975 album, “Young Americans”)
  7. Golden Years (from the 1976 album, “Station to Station”)
  8. Ashes to Ashes (from the 1980 album, “Scary Monsters”)
  9. Fashion (from the 1980 album, “Scary Monsters”)
  10. Under Pressure – w/Queen (released in 1981 as a single, and included on the 1982 Queen album, “Hot Spaces”)

In recent days, Glenn Frey, of the band “The Eagles”, also passed away.  After starting out as background singers for Linda Ronstadt, Frey and drummer Don Henley went on to form what became one of the most successful rock bands of all-time.  Though detractors have often criticized the groups soft-rock, country tinged sound, the music buying public devoured their records, and turned out in mass for their concerts.  If you’ve never listened to their music, here are ten cuts work seeking out:

  1. Peaceful Easy Feeling (from the 1972 album, “Eagles”)
  2. Desperado (from the 1973 album, “Desperado”)
  3. Bitter Creek (from the 1973 album, “Desperado”)
  4. Best of My Love (from the 1974 album, “On the Border”)
  5. One of These Nights (from the 1975 album, “One of These Nights”)
  6. Lyin’ Eyes (from the 1975 album, “One of These Nights”)
  7. Hotel California (from the 1976 album, “Hotel California”)
  8. Life in the Fast Lane (from the 1976 album, “Hotel California”)
  9. Wasted Time (from the 1976 album, “Hotel California”)
  10. Seven Bridges Road (from the 1980 album “Eagles Live”)

Posted in Entertainment/Music/Sports, Lists, Tributes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Thought for the Day – Sharing in Christ’s Sufferings

January 19, 2016 by bjcorbin

I believe that we as “Christians” like to think of our hardships as suffering for Jesus’ sake.  But unless we are partaking of the “divine nature”, genuinely attempting to follow the leading of His Spirit, and/or manifesting the character of Christ, it is doubtful that we are actually sharing in His sufferings.  More often than not, we are simply reaping the consequences of acting in our own strength, and doing what is “right” in our own eyes.

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Thought for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 18, 2016 by bjcorbin

Despite being a person who has taken the time to publish a few books, write hundreds of articles, and produce countless presentations over the years, I have to say that most talk is incredibly cheap.  Though words have the potential to be powerful within the right context, they rarely find that setting.  And even when they do, they can still come up empty if they’re not backed up with corresponding action.  It’s so easy to say that we believe in something, when that belief doesn’t cost us anything.  But the truth of our heart is revealed when it comes time to put hands and feet on our rhetoric.  If we’re not willing to get out of our comfort zone, or make a sacrifice, or even just risk being criticized, our words mean nothing.

 

Our nation was once renowned for its creativity, productivity, and resilience; but in recent decades we’ve largely become a culture of big talkers, who produce very little.  On a day when we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr, it seems a good time to remember that it wasn’t just the eloquence of his speech that made such an impact.  Ultimately, it was a life lived as profoundly as the words he spoke.  We, and the leaders of our nation, would do well to follow his example.

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Social / Political, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

Thought for the Day – Silent Lucidity

January 1, 2016 by bjcorbin

It seems to me that life is lived amidst the tension between who we were created to be, and who we’ve always been.  And that in moments of forced sobriety, and silent lucidity, we are confronted by the sense that there must be more to life than what we are experiencing.  Though we like to think of ourselves as victims of circumstance, we come face to face with the reality that we are far more responsible for the state of our condition than we’d ever care to admit.  The fact that we make bad decisions does nothing more than qualify us as members of the human race.  But a steady refusal to learn from those mistakes, or to change direction, will ultimately brand us a fool.

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Thought for the Day – Christmas Memories

December 26, 2015 by bjcorbin

If you ask a young person about their favorite Christmas memory, they will most likely tell you about the best present they ever got.  But if you ask an older person that same question, you’ll almost always hear about the people they were with.

Posted in Christmas, Commentaries, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

Happy Birthday My Friend

December 17, 2015 by bjcorbin

Today is my dear friend Jeff’s birthday.  We’ve now worked together for over twenty-four years, and in that time we’ve become like brothers.  We started out as peers, both working as supervisors in the plant’s decontamination facility.  He ran the crew that worked the large parts, and I had the crew that did the smaller parts.  Jeff had started out as a worker, years before I got to the plant; and I started as a supervisor, after finishing my time in the military.  The first thing I noticed about him was his pension for practical jokes, and I quickly assumed that he just wasn’t a very serious person.  But in the years since, I’ve discovered that he is actually one of the most thoughtful and diligent people I have ever known.  He is passionate about the things he believes, and he tries to live his life by them.  After a few years, Jeff became my boss, and working for him was a real pleasure.  Because he believes that family comes first, it was never a problem when situations arose at home.  No matter what that cost him in terms of the work, it was a price he was willing to pay so that people could be there for their families.  That is typical of my friend Jeff.  He is a man of principle and character.  Being around him caused me to take a hard look at my own character, and I didn’t like what I saw.  His example convicted me, and was a meaningful part of the inspiration that eventually caused my own life to turn.

 

Growing up in the Catholic Church, I was always taught that Saint Jude was the patron saint of lost causes, but I’m pretty sure that Jeff has now taken that baton.  He always seems to find himself at the helm of some ship that appears to be headed for its doom.  Whether that’s putting a new engine in some ancient mini-van, or running an old, under-staffed, & perpetually under-funded facility; or pastoring a church that has only a handful of congregants left; or giving a second chance to people who everyone else has already written off; or reaching out to families in a local housing project that have long since been forgotten by their neighbors; or running an annual Vacation Bible School to teach under privileged kids about Jesus. He instinctively steps up to take the job that no one else really wants, and holds out hope where there seems to be none.

 

Through the years we have labored, learned, and laughed together. We have embarrassed ourselves just to get a laugh, and we’ve prayed through tears for our family and friends. Hanging around Jeff has inspired me to be a better man, and our friendship continues to be a source of great blessing in my life. My hope is that I could one day be as good a friend to him, as he has been to me. So today, on the 61st anniversary of his birth, I celebrate, and thank God for my dear friend Jeff. Happy Birthday Brother!

Posted in Personal, Tributes | Tagged | 2 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »